Dubai: Samsung’s Galaxy K Zoom looks like a phone from the front but the back houses a lens that sticks out for zooming. It will take time to get used to the odd shape of the phone as it is bulky and weighs 200 grams.
The 4.8-inch super AMOLED screen with 1280 x 720 resolution is powered by an Exynos 5260 Hexa processor, which means it has six cores that run on 1.3GHz quad-core Cortex A7 processor and 1.7GHz dual core Cortex A15 processor. It is paired with 2GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage capacity. The micro SD card supports up to 64GB.
The 720p screen, which has 306 pixels per inch density, is not up to the current flagship smartphone standards but it is better than some professional cameras in the market. Since it has a camera, Samsung should have stuck to full HD display.
The TouchWiz user interface is similar to S5 with colourful circular icons.
As digital zoom is standard for most of the phone cameras, which means enlarging the image artificially, cropping what’s already been captured and drastically losing quality. It comes with enormous 10x (24mm-240mm) optical zoom lens. The zoom on the K is the like having a 240mm telephoto lens in front of your phone. To fit this lens in a smartphone, Samsung did some clever design to keep the Galaxy K Zoom to its current thickness.
It also houses a 2MP front-facing camera. To support the tele lens and blur-free low light shooting, the camera comes with a built-in big xenon flash and features optical image stabiliser (OIS). The OIS is very helpful particularly when you are shooting in full tele as they removed the tripod screw mount its predecessor had.
You can launch the camera mode by sliding the camera icon from the lock screen, by pressing down on the shutter release for one second or by opening the app directly.
The lens extends and effectively doubling the K Zoom’s thickness at the widest focal length (24mm). You can zoom in or out by using the volume button, left for tele and right for wide or by using the on-screen zoom toggle.
There are different scene modes to choose from but it does not have the always-on HDR found in Galaxy S5.
Video is shot in full HD at 60fps in addition to the usual 30fps count.
When using low ISO and with sufficient light to shoot, the noise is well under control, barely visible when viewing the shot at 100 per cent (1:1). But in low light and in full zoom the noise is unavoidable, but it’s ok for uploading in social media for friends and family.
Regarding connectivity, K Zoom offers 4G, NFC, MHL compatibility, Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi.
The removable 2430mAh battery takes a hit with camera use. Forget about taking an all-day photo shoot with this device. If you are a heavy photo snapper, it last for less than half a day. There are power saving features but the less power-efficient Exynos chip hampers the device.
During my tests, the battery lasted 10 hours of video playback. Moderate users can get around one day from the juice. So if you are planning to use it as a camera for your holidays, you will definitely need a spare battery. It is priced at Dh2,099.
